Chef Chin revisited

Well, sort of....... I've posted on this place when it was just Chin's on Convoy. I actually had dinner here after the name change which was....well, ok. It was too dark and my photos never came out. A few weeks ago, feeling the need for some Niu Rou Mian, I decided on revisiting.

Even though it was pretty hot out, I just needed some NRM.

I don't know if it was bad timing, or if it was the "b" team in action, but this wasn't even close to what I had here before. Sorely lacking beef flavor, this was very salty, missing the nice kick I had in previous versions. The beef was fine, moist and tender, but those noodles were terrible. I was never the biggest fan of the noodles here, which are passable when prepared well, but when overcooked and mushy......

I ordered the fried pork chop, which was even worse than the NRM.

Greasy, soggy, and too salty....I think I'll leave it at that.

After this visit, I wondered if it had just been a bad day. I'd been craving Shanghai style cold dishes and with all the hot weather, it just seemed like the right time to try again....this time with my buddy "R" along for the ride.

We started with the Wined Chicken, which was pretty good.

The texture was spot on, the mildly cured texture, not too salty, and without the overly boozy, sometimes bitter flavor of too much Shaoxing, this was a decent rendition of the classic "Su Cai" dish.

The five spice beef was nicely flavored, not too sweet, which this type of cuisine can be.

If it were just a bit more tender I would have enjoyed it more.

The cold roasted duck's flavor was much better than what I've had here in the past. The nice sweet-soy flavor came through nicely.

Nice duck flavor, combined with a toothsome, but not too tough duck, made this the best dish of the day.

I'm glad the duck and chicken came through with flying colors, because the Wuxi Spareribs, a dish that's usually pretty good here was terrible.

Usually, I'm complaining that they make make it much too sweet here. But this time it really lacked flavor....the sauce was very bland. Combine that with gloppy gooeyness, sometimes a mild plus when sauces tend to be heavily flavored just made this a mediocre dish at best. The spareribs really lacked flavor, though they weren't too tough. Bummer, because this was possibly my favorite here.

At least my second meal was better than my first. If it gets terribly hot, I might just head back.....I'm hoping those spareribs are much better. The lunchtime crowd here is quite diverse, mostly made up of folks ordering the "ABC" style dishes, perhaps that's why the NRM wasn't very good?

Chef Chin
4433 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

 

Comments

[kat]

hit or miss...

[Kirbie]

Just the other day, Mr. K was asking me if we should try this place again as it's been so long (I think before the name change) since we've been.

[Kirk]

Totally Kat.

Hey Kirbie - I know what MrK means....we always circle back to places.

[Soo H.]

Soggy pork chop... :-( I liked their location on Miramar Road but I haven't visited in over a year.

[Kirk]

Hi Soo - I'm not sure that you know this, but this restaurant is no longer affiliated with the Chin's on Miramar.